Blinded
by Alina-Cantha
Summary: An eventual collection KakaSakucentric.
1. Swansong

_Swan Song_

_A one-shot KakaSaku story, part of "Blinded"_

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto - Masashi Kishimoto has that glorious pleasure. I just write about it for fun.**

* * *

"You're not drunk, are you?" Kakashi asked Sakura, dumping her unceremoniously to her feet a few dozen feet outside the bar they'd just left.

She stared down at her feet, trying to come up with a good excuse that also managed to avoid the truth. "No, I'm not," she finally answered, going for the direct truth.

"So why the act?" he continued, giving her a curious look from his one un-covered eye. "Don't tell me you enjoy pretending to be drunk, or that you're scared to walk home on your own."

"How did you know I wasn't ?" she countered, trying to recenter attention.

"When you _are _drunk, you get this cute pink flush in your cheeks," Kakashi answered, beginning to stroll down the street, his hands in his pockets.

"Cute?" she asked, grimacing a bit. That's all she needed, her teacher from ten years ago calling her 'cute'.

"It goes good with your hair. Now stop changing the subject. Why pretend?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

He raised an eyebrow. "You wanted to talk to me? Unusual." Which was true – she had other mentors. He was always the one Naruto came to, and Sasuke would have, if he wasn't gone – but it was best just not to think of that.

"I have an exam tomorrow," she said quietly, looking up at him. When had she gotten so tall? Just a short while ago it seemed that he was towering over her, and now he was just a little bit taller.

"An exam?" he asked, a small lilt in his voice. "Why are you nervous? You know you're the smartest, from our little group at least."

"It's not that kind of exam."

"You're going up for ANBU, aren't you?"

She nodded slowly, suddenly having second thoughts. That tone in his voice… He knew what it was like, why hadn't she just asked him earlier? It was too late to back out now.

"They start tomorrow morning," she explained. "Individual Forest of Death testing." Kakashi pressed his lips into a thin line, suddenly imagining all the things that could happen to a small pink-haired kunoichi alone in that horrible place, let alone undergoing ANBU testing at the same time. With a little smile, he realized that she was _his _pink-haired kunoichi – ten years and he was still as protective as ever.

"You get sleep then," he instructed her, giving her a dark look. "You'll need it – you're not going to get any for three days."

She nodded her head again, finding it hard to get words out. She was so much more nervous now than she'd been. She should never have talked to him in the first place – he obviously didn't approve. He didn't think she was strong enough for it; that was probably it.

"It's going to be difficult," she finally said, more a statement than a question.

"Yes, it is," he answered. "More difficult than you could imagine. But you've passed harder tests." He smiled at her then, that odd cock-eyed smile of his, and it made her smile as well as her heart began to pound harder in her chest.

"Here's home then," Kakashi finally said, stopping outside her door. "Now I can at least tell the others that I took you home. Even if you weren't really drunk. You did a nice job of faking it. If I didn't know you well enough, I wouldn't have been able to tell."

"That's good. I play a convincing drunk," she said dryly, taking her keys out of her pouch and jamming them into the lock.

The door creaked open and she took one step inside before turning to say goodbye. "Goodnight, Kakashi," she said, smiling softly in the moonlight. "Thanks for your encouraging words."

"How very formal of you," he responded, giving her a strange little half-bow. "Goodnight, Sakura." Kakashi stepped up into her doorway and planted a kiss firmly on her forehead through his mask – the forehead he so distinctly remembered her moaning and groaning about so many years ago. "For good luck."

He gave her that funny smile again and a little wave as he walked off, headed back to the bar, probably. Sakura shook her head as shut the door behind her – Kakashi…He was like a lovable idiot – you didn't know whether to hit him, hug him, or be confused as hell.

_It's just the beginning of a swansong; you don't know how to tell if it's right or wrong…_


	2. Staring At The Sun

Staring at the Sun 

She woke up in his arms, and she loved it. Shifting softly, she moved her head farther down his chest, putting her ear against his heart. Sakura could feel it beating, a steady rhythm throughout her body. As long as he was here with her, it would continue beating. As long as she was with him, he would live.

His long, muscular arms were still wrapped around her, and she snuggled into his embrace, matching her breathing with his. In, out…in, out… God, she was so glad he was sleeping. He needed it so badly – those dark circles under his eyes never seemed to go away these days. She barely moved, not wanting to wake him. She simply shut her eyes, enjoying the feel of her skin against his, and the soft warmth of his breathing over her head. He was so much taller than her that even sitting like they were, he was almost a full head taller.

Sunlight was just beginning to leak in through the curtains, and the alarm clock across the room blared the time as five o'clock in the morning. She winced and slid out of his grip, crossing the room to turn off the buzzer.

She turned back just in time to see him open his eyes and smile lazily at her. He just took things in for a moment before remarking, "You should wake me up like that more often." She frowned and glanced down at herself before realizing that she was only about half-clothed.

Flushing, she tried to cover it up with a different reason. "Kakashi, I'm so sorry," she mumbled. "I wanted you to sleep, to get some rest, but I forgot to turn the alarm off, and-," she rattled off.

"There are better things than sleep," he told her, stretching his whole body and arching his back as a cat would. She padded over to sit next to him, enjoying the ripple of his muscles beneath his scarred skin. She'd had him as a teacher for two whole years and never noticed that?

He wasn't her teacher now, of course – they were equals, both jounin. Ten years had passed since he'd met her, and since she'd met him, and three had passed since they'd realized they loved each other. Now here they were, curled up on a bed together, sharing kisses and smiles.

"You, for example," he continued as she lay down beside him, running delicate fingertips over his chest. "You are more wonderful than any amount of sleep could ever be," he declared, turning to hook one arm around her shoulder to pull her into a light embrace.

She bopped him gently with a pillow. "That sounds like something out of one of your stupid novels, Kakashi," she groaned, exasperated.

"Where do you think I learned from?" he asked her simply. She gave him a look, raising one eyebrow almost to her hairline. "Okay, you're right," he finished, running his fingers lightly up and down her spine. She closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy the sensation.

Opening them, she found herself eye-to-eye, nose-to-nose with him. He smiled as he kissed her.

He rolled onto his stomach to bury his face in a pillow as she climbed out of bed for real. As she opened the curtains, he turned just enough to peek at her out of the corner of his eye. Her silhouette was outlined perfectly against the window frame, and he loved it. The curves – perfect, the muscle – phenomenal, the strength – unimaginable, and he loved it.

"The sun is beautiful today," she commented as she hauled the curtain up.

"Yeah," he answered, watching her saunter into the bathroom. And that was the problem, he thought as he buried his face in the pillow again. The sun may be beautiful, just as she was, but the longer you looked, the longer you enjoyed it, the more chance you had of getting burned. Kakashi sighed deeply, and went back to sleep.

It's just like staring at the sun… 


End file.
